Monday, February 24, 2014

And on some level, Votto’s WLW fireside chats have been something of a lecture, as well. He’s the tenured professor, educating and exposing people to new ideas.

At one point Votto explained wRC+, or Weighted Run Created Plus, sending a flood of traffic from southeastern Ohio to the servers at FanGraphs.com.

Votto’s become the face of a certain argument between new-school and old-school thinking, one that could simply come down to the point of view of whether a walk is not getting a hit or not making an out.

It’s unlikely to be coincidence that Votto was tied for first with Arizona’s Paul Goldschmidt in the National League with a 156 wRC+ last season.

“It’s the future – no one can deny that. The same thing with a lot of the new things that are being legalized and things that are being changed in the constitution, that’s not changing,” Votto said. “It’s coming, accept it. There are people who pushed back in the ’70s and people who pushed back in the ’30s, it’s human nature. I’m going to push back on something one day and guess what, the world’s going to fly by me. In a smaller way, this is making the game better and more efficient.”

Asked why he’s interested in these statistics, Votto said he wanted to be able to speak that language after his playing career is done, whether as a manager, coach or in a front office. But even the new, open Votto clammed up when asked whether he used these theories on the field to make him the National League’s best hitter.

“I can’t give that up to you,” he said. “That’s a bit too far. If people knew that part, the way I think, I’d get in trouble.”

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At Redsfest, Votto went on with McAlister as part of the regular festivities and expressed to him that he enjoyed their talks and would like to do more. About five weeks ago, he contacted McAlister and asked if he could come on his show.

It’s coming, accept it. There are people who pushed back in the ’70s and people who pushed back in the ’30s, it’s human nature. I’m going to push back on something one day and guess what, the world’s going to fly by me.

I feel like I occasionally come across the older guy who never transitioned into the 'get off my lawn' stereotype. Keeps up with things, updates his language and habits appropriately. It's rare but he's out there. Sadly, I don't think I'm up to it.

Seconded. Votto is both an awesome player and a really fun guy to root for. I can't recall another star player modifying his game based on the numbers in the way that Votto decided to trade a few home runs per year in order to hit more line drives and get on base more, and from the way he talks you can tell that he actually understands the reasons for doing so.

The closest situation that comes to mind is Brandon McCarthy changing his pitching style based on the basic reasoning behind DIPS. But McCarthy was a borderline washout who was looking for a way to resurrect his career, not an established star who was willing to change his game.